Personal Training

Grain Free/Sugar Free Granola! Happy 2014!

Posted on by Naomi

I MADE GRANOLA!!! And its healthy and it’ll be a great recipe you can add to your list of things to make for 2014!!

Yeah, thats my excitement coming through the computer screen. I was so impressed and it actually turned out way better than I imagined! You know when you have ingredients that sit in your kitchen cabinets that you don’t use ALL that much, but you have them always saying: “I’m going to make some killer muffins” or “this weekend I am going to use those sunflower seeds and make some sunflower seed butter” And then it continues to sit there. Past the weekend. Past the following week. Yeah. Thats pretty how this granola came to be. I ordered some products on nuts.com (coconut flour, spirulina, walnuts, almonds and maca powder) When you place an order, the company gives you a free sample–This is pretty sweet in theory until you get goji berries. Dried ones. What the heck do I do with dried goji berries? Okay–I’ll put them in my cabinet and figure it out. Then they just sat there for weeks. I was re-organizing my kitchen baking materials (which are sparse) and came across the goji berries. I am making some damn granola. I also didn’t even sit down to think about it. I just stayed standing and grabbed some other ingredients and got moving.

So with the goji berries as the inspiration to this granola, I grabbed an almost full bag of roasted sunflower seeds, a half used bag of almond flour, the chia seeds and flaxseeds (which I DO use quite often) and some pumpkin pie spice.  BOOM I got the dry goods.

The Dry Goods

Now comes what to drizzle on top to hold the granola together. I recently have had some testing done to find that I have a slight fructose malabsorption. This basically means that I cannot completely absorb fructose in my small intestine-the beginning part of the digestive tract.  The undigested fructose is then carried to the colon where our normal bacteria rapidly devour it. In the process, the bacteria produce gases which cause the intestine to swell. SOOO I get pretty uncomfortable when I eat foods too high in fructose (including apples, pears, tomatoes, garlic, onions, sugar free products, honey, agave, watermelon)

With that said, I didn’t want to use honey in this recipe due to my fructose malabsorption

Mixin' it all up!

 

I mixed together some coconut oil and grass-fed butter (Kerrygold that I found at Trader Joes) mixed with a few drops of stevia.  This would serve as the glue to my granola

Coconut oil + butter

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I literally didn’t even read a recipe so I had no idea how this granola would turn out. I only hoped for the best. I hate wasting ingredients, but I kept saying to myself “how bad can this really be?” Delicious ingredients covered in coconut oil and butter?! PUH-LEASE

Mix mix mix
Mix mix mix

 

Spread it evenly on a baking sheet or baking pan

post cooking!

Store in a mason jar
Store in a mason jar
Make into 5 equal serving
Make into 5 equal serving
Grain Free Nutty Granola
 

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Prep time

Cook time

Total time

 

This granola is gluten free/grain free/low in sugar and so easy to make! Make and store in a mason jar or seperate into 5 equal servings. Enjoy over acai bowls, Greek Yogurt, atop smoothies and more!
Recipe type: Breakfast/Snack
Serves: 5

Ingredients
  • ⅓C almond flour
  • ⅓C sunflower seeds
  • ⅓C dried goji berries (can use any dried fruit
  • ¼C chia seeds
  • 1T coconut oil
  • 1T Kerry Gold Butter
  • 1.5T pumpkin pie spice
  • 5 drops stevia
  • 1T flaxseed meal

Instructions
  1. Mix almond meal, berries, flaxseed meal, chia seeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin pie spice in a small bowl and set aside.
  2. In a microwave safe bowl combine coconut oil and butter. Melt in the microwave (about 30 seconds) Add stevia into the mixture.
  3. Pour oil/butter/stevia over the nutty mixture and stir well making sure it is all coated evenly.
  4. Spray a cookie sheet or baking pan with olive oil spray. Spread the granola mixture evenly over the pan and place in the oven at 300 degrees. Keep an eye on the oven and mix every few minutes or so, ensuring that it does not overcook and burn!
  5. When golden brown and smells amazing–Take out of the oven and transfer into a mason jar or tupperware when a bit cool.
  6. I separated the granola into 5 equal portions

Yields about 2 cups. I split the mixture into 5 equal servings (about 1/3C each) The nutritional facts below reflect each serving.

NUTRITIONAL FACTS

  • CALORIES: 176
  • FAT: 13g
  • CARBOHYDRATES: 11g
  • FIBER: 5g
  • SUGAR: 1g
  • PROTEIN: 5g

 I hope you go try and make this granola! It really is SO SO SO good!

2014

I also want to take this time to thank each and every one of you for your support, friendship, readership, time, motivation and love. You all inspire me to do what I do and bring joy to me every single day. I am so excited to start 2014. There are some BIG changes for me that will be taking place-career wise and I cannot wait to begin! You all make me smile. Keep my energized and I hope to always be a part of your journey!!

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Naomi
Naomi